ABSTRACT

A Diversified field of science which deals with surface science, organic chemistry, molecular
biology, semiconductor physics and micro-fabrication etc. The associated research and
applications are equally diverse, ranging from extensions of conventional physics to
completely new approaches based upon developing new materials with new dimensions on
nanoscale. It has also excelled in the area of harvesting energy in form of piezoelectrics
-materials capable of converting pressure into electrical energy - and the cornerstone of
microchip manufacturing, thin film technology. Scientists currently debate the future
implications of nanotechnology. Nanotechnology may be able to create many new materials
and devices with big range of applications, such as in medicine, electronics, biomaterials and
energy production. The study examines how the power of piezoelectrics could be integrated
as a storage to charge mobile phones, enable laptops to be powered through typing or even
used to convert blood pressure into a power source for pacemakers - essentially creating an
everlasting battery. The theory of Nanotechnology given by a few philosophers say that the
concept of energy harvesting using piezoelectric nano materials has been demonstrated but
the actual realization of these structures can be too complicated and they are poorly suited to
mass fabrication. Our study focused on thin film coatings because we believe they hold the
only practical possibility of integrating piezoelectrics into existing electronic technology.

1. INTRODUCTION
Molecular nanotechnology or Nanotechnology is the name given to a specific sort of
manufacturing technology to build things from the atom up, and to rearrange matter with
atomic precision. In other words, we can say that nanotechnology is a three dimensional
structural control of material and devices at molecular level. The nanoscale structures can be
prepared, characterized, manipulated, and even visualized with tools.
Nanotechnology is a tool-driven field."
Other terms, such as molecular engineering or molecular manufacturing are also often applied
when describing this emerging technology. This technology does not yet exist. But, scientists
have recently gained the ability to observe and manipulate atoms directly. However, this is
only one small aspect of a growing array of techniques in nanoscale science and technology.
The ability to make commercial products may yet be a few decades away.
The central thesis of nanotechnology is that almost any chemically stable structure that is not
specifically disallowed by the laws of physics can in fact be built. Theoretical and
computational models indicate that molecular manufacturing systems are possible that
they do not violate existing physical law. These models also give us a feel for what a
molecular manufacturing system might look like. Melting pot of science combining
applications of physics, chemistry, biology, electronics and computers. Today, scientists are
devising numerous tools and techniques that will be needed to transform nanotechnology
from computer models into reality.

Nanotechnology is often called the science of the small. It is concerned with manipulating
particles at the atomic level, usually in order to form new compounds or make changes to
existing substances. Nanotechnology is being applied to problems in electronics, biology,
genetics and a wide range of business applications.

Matter is composed of small atoms that are closely bound together, making up the molecular
structure, which, in turn determines the density of the concerned material. Since different
factors such as molecular density, malleability, ductility and surface tension come into play,
nano systems have to be designed in a cost effective manner that overrides these conditions
and helps to create machines capable of withstanding the vagaries of the environment.

Let us take the case of metals. Metals, solids in particular, consist of atoms held together by
strong structural forces, which enable metals to withstand high temperatures. Depending upon
the exertion of force or heat, the molecular structure bends in a particular fashion, thereby
acquiring a definite space in the form of a lattice structure.
2

The trick is to manipulate atoms individually and place them exactly where needed, to
produce the desired structure. It is a challenge for the scientists to understand the size, shape,
strength, force, motion and other properties while designing the nano machines. The idea of
nanotechnology is therefore to master over the characteristics of matter in an intelligent
manner to develop highly efficient systems.
The key aspect of nanotechnology is that nanoscale materials offer different chemical and
physical properties than the bulk materials, and that these properties could form the
basis of ne w technologies. For example, scientists have learned that the electronic--and
hence optical--properties of nanometer-size particles can be tuned by adjusting the particle
size. According to a recent study by a group at Georgia Institute of Technology, when gold
metal is reduced to nanosize rods, its fluorescence intensity is enhanced over 10 million- fold.
The study found that the wavelength of the emitted light increases linearly with the rod
length, while the light intensity increases with the square of the rod length.

2. HISTORY OF NANOTECHNOLOGY
Any advanced research carries inherent risks but nanotechnology bears a special burden. The
field's bid for respectability is colored by the association of the word with a cabal of futurist
who foresee nano as a pathway to a techno-utopia: unparalleled prosperity, pollution-free
industry, even something resembling eternal life.

In 1986-five years after IBM researchers Gerd Binnig and Heinrich Rohrer invented the
scanning tunneling microscope, which garnered them the Nobel Prize-the book Engines of
Creation, by K. Eric Drexler, created a sensation for its depiction of godlike control over
matter. The book describes self-replicating nanomachines that could produce virtually any
material good, while reversing global warming, curing disease and dramatically extending
life spans. Scientists with tenured faculty positions and NSF grants ridiculed these visions,
noting that their fundamental improbability made them an absurd projection of what the
future holds.

But the visionary scent that has surrounded nanotechnology ever since may provide some
unforeseen benefits. To many nonscientists, Drexler's projections for nanotechnology
straddled the border between science and fiction in a compelling way. Talk of cell- repair
machines that would eliminate aging as we know it and of home food- growing machines that
could produce victuals without killing anything helped to create a fascination with the small
that genuine scientists, consciously or not, would later use to draw attention to their work on
more mundane but eminently more real projects. Certainly labeling a research proposal
"nanotechnology" has a more alluring ring than calling it "applied mesoscale science."
3

Less directly, Drexler's work may actually draw people into science. His imaginings have
inspired a rich vein of science- fiction literature . As a subgenre of science fiction-rather than
a literal prediction of the future-books about Drexlerian nanotechnology may serve the same
function as Star Trek does in stimulating a teenager's interest in space, a passion that
sometimes leads to a career in aeronautics or astrophysics.

The danger comes when intelligent people take Drexler's predictions at face value. Drexlerian
nanotechnology drew renewed publicity last year when a morose Bill Joy, the chief scientist
of Sun Microsystems, worried in the magazine Wired about the implications of nanorobots
that could multiply uncontrollably. A spreading mass of self-replicating robots-what Drexler
has labeled "gray goo"-could pose enough of a threat to society, he mused, that we should
consider stopping development of nanotechnology. But that suggestion diverts attention from
the real nano goo: chemical and biological weapons.

Among real chemists and materials scientists who have now become nanotechnologists,
Drexler's predictions have assumed a certain quaintness; science is nowhere near to being
able to produce nanoscopic machines that can help revive frozen brains from suspended
animation. (Essays by Drexler and his critics, including Nobel Prize winner Richard E.
Smalley, appear in this issue.) Zyvex, a company started by a software magnate enticed by
Drexlerian nanotechnology, has recognized how difficult it will be to create robots at the
nanometer scale; the company is now dabbling with much larger micromechanical elements,
which Drexler has disparaged in his books.

3. NANOTECHNOLOGY TOOLS
What would it mean if we could inexpensively make things with every atom in the right place?
For starters, we could continue the revolution in computer hardware right down to molecular
gates and wires -- something that today's lithographic methods (used to make computer chips)
could never hope to do. We could inexpensively make very strong and very light materials:
shatterproof diamond in precisely the shapes we want, by the ton, and over fifty times lighter
than steel of the same strength. We could make a Cadillac that weighed fifty kilograms, or a
full-sized sofa you could pick up with one hand. We could make surgical instruments of such
precision and deftness that they could operate on the cells and even molecules from which we
are made -- something well beyond today's medical technology. The list goes on -- almost any
manufactured product could be improved, often by orders of magnitude.
3.1 THE ADVANTAGES OF POSITIONAL CONTROL
One of the basic principles of nanotechnology is positional control. At the macroscopic scale,
the idea that we can hold parts in our hands and assemble them by properly positioning them
with respect to each other goes back to prehistory.
At the molecular scale, the idea of holding and positioning molecules is new and almost
shocking. However, as long ago as 1959 Richard Feynman, the Nobel prize winning physicist,
said that nothing in the laws of physics prevented us from arranging atoms the way we want:
"...it is something, in principle, that can be done; but in practice, it has not been done because
we are too big."

Before discussing the advantages of positional control at the molecular scale, it's helpful to
look at some of the methods that have been developed by chemists -- methods that don't use
positional control, but still let chemists synthesize a remarkably wide range of molecules and
structures.

3.2 SELF ASSEMBLY

The ability of chemists to synthesize what they want by stirring things together is truly
remarkable. Imagine building a radio by putting all the parts in a bag, shaking, and pulling out
the radio -- fully assembled and ready to work! Self assembly -- the art and science of
arranging conditions so that the parts themselves spontaneously assemble into the desired
structure -- is a well established and powerful method of synthesizing complex molecular
structures. A basic principle in self assembly is selective stickiness: if two molecular parts have
complementary shapes and charge patterns -- one part has a hollow where the other part has a
bump, and one part has a positive charge where the other part has a negative charge -- then they
will tend to stick together in one particular way. By shaking these parts around -- something
which thermal noise does for us quite naturally if the parts are floating in solution -- the parts
will eventually, purely by chance, be brought together in just the right way and combine into a
bigger part. This bigger part can combine in the same way with other parts, letting us gradually
build a complex whole from molecular pieces by stirring them together and shaking.
Many viruses use this approach to make more viruses -- if you stir the parts of the T4
bacteriophage together in a test tube, they will self assemble into fully functional viruses.
3.3 POSITIONAL DEVICES AND POSITIONALLY CONTROLLED
REACTIONS
While self assembly is a path to nanotechnology, by itself it would be hard pressed to make the
very wide range of products promised by nanotechnology. We don't know how to self assemble
shatterproof diamond, for example. During self assembly the parts bounce around and bump
into each other in all kinds of ways, and if they stick together when we don't want them to stick
together, we'll get unwanted globs of random parts. Many types of parts have this problem, so
self assembly won't work for them. To make diamond, it seems as though we need to use
indiscriminately sticky parts (such as radicals, carbenes and the like). These parts can't be
allowed to randomly bump into each other (or much of anything else, for that matter) because
they'd stick together when we didn't want them to stick together and form messy blobs
instead
of precise molecular machines.

Fig 1 Drexlers proposed robotic arm

We can avoid this problem if we can hold and position the parts. Even though the molecular
parts that are used to make diamond are both randomly and very sticky (more technically, the
barriers to bond formation are low and the resulting covalent bonds are quite strong), if we can
position them we can prevent them from bumping into each other in the wrong way. When two
sticky parts do come into contact with each other, they'll do so in the right orientation because
we're holding them in the right orientation. In short, positional control at the molecular scale
should let us make things which would be difficult or impossible to make without it. If we are
to position molecular parts we must develop the molecular equivalent of "arms" and "hands."
We'll need to learn what it means to "pick up" such parts and "snap them together." We'll have
to understand the precise chemical reactions that such a device would use.
One of the first questions we'll need to answer is: what does a molecular-scale positional
device look like? Current proposals are similar to macroscopic robotic devices but on a much
smaller scale. The illustrations ( Fig 1 & 2 ) show a design for a molecular-scale robotic arm
proposed by Eric Drexler, a pioneering researcher in the field. Only 100 nanometers high and
30 nanometers in diameter, this rather squat design has a few million atoms and roughly a
hundred moving parts.

Running bearings dry should work both because the diamond surface is very slippery and
because we can make the surface very smooth -- so smooth that there wouldn't even be
molecular-sized asperities or imperfections that might catch or grind against each other.
Computer models support our intuition: analysis of the bearings shown here using
computational chemistry programs shows they should rotate easily.

Fig. 2 Cross section of a stiff manipulator arm showing its range of motion
3.4 STIFFNESS
Molecular arms will be buffeted by something we don't worry about at the macroscopic scale:
thermal noise. This makes molecular-scale objects wiggle and jiggle, just as Brownian motion
makes small dust particles bounce around at random.
The critical property we need here is stiffness. Stiffness is a measure of how far something
moves when you push on it. If it moves a lot when you push on it a little, it's not very stiff. If it
doesn't budge when you push hard, it's very stiff.
3.5 SCANNING TUNNELING MICROSCOPE (STM)
The STM is a device that can position a tip to atomic precision near a surface and can move it
around. The scanning tunneling microscope is conceptually quite simple. It uses a sharp,
electrically conductive needle to scan a surface. The position of the tip of the needle is
controlled to within 0.1 angstrom (less than the radius of a hydrogen atom) using a voltagecontrolled piezoelectric drive. When the tip is within a few angstroms of the surface and a
small voltage is applied to the needle, a tunneling current flows from the tip to the surface. This
tunneling current is then detected and amplified, and can be used to map the shape of the
surface, such as a blind man tapping in front of him with his cane, we can tell that the tip is
approaching the surface and so can "feel" the outlines of the surface in front of us.
Many different types of physical interactions with the surface are used to detect its presence.
Some scanning tunneling microscopes literally push on the surface -- and note how hard the
surface pushes back. Others connect the surface and probe to a voltage source, and measure the
current flow when the probe gets close to the surface. A host of other probe-surface interactions
can be measured, and are used to make different types of STMs. But in all of them, the basic
idea is the same: when the sharp tip of the probe approaches the surface a signal is generated -a signal which lets us map out the surface being probed.
The STM cannot only map a surface; in many cases the probe-surface interaction changes the
surface as well. This has already been used experimentally to spell out molecular words, and
the obvious opportunities to modify the surface in a controlled way are being investigated both
experimentally and theoretically.
3.5.1 RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN NANOTECHNOLOGY USING STM

In the new work, the surface is atomically smooth graphite with a drop of dimethyl-phthalate (a
liquid) on its surface. (The type of organic liquid does not seem critical; many other
compounds have been used.) The needle is electrochemically- etched tungsten, and is
immersed in the liquid. Not only can the graphite surface be imaged in the normal way, but
also a voltage pulse applied to the needle (3.7 volts for 100 nanoseconds) can 'pin' one of the
organic molecules to the surface, where it can be viewed in the normal fashion. A second
voltage pulse applied at the same location can remove the pinned molecule (though it often
randomly pins other molecules in an as-yet uncontrollable way). In some cases, the voltage
pulse will remove only part of the pinned molecule, leaving behind a molecularly altered
fragment.
A few big STMs making a few molecular structures won't let us make much -- certainly not
tons of precisely structured shatterproof diamond. We'll need vast numbers of very small
positional devices operating in parallel. Unfortunately, as we make our positional devices
smaller and smaller, they will be more and more subject to thermal noise. To make something
that's both small and stiff is more challenging. It helps to get the stiffest material you can find.
Diamond, as usual, is stiffer than almost anything else and is an excellent material from which
to make a very small, very stiff positional device. Theoretical analysis gives firm support to the
idea that positional devices in the 100 nanometer size range able to position their tips to within
a small fraction of an atomic diameter in the face of thermal noise at room temperature should
be feasible. Trillions of such devices would occupy little more than a few cubic millimeters (a
speck slightly larger than a pinhead).

4. NANOMATERIALS
The nanomaterials field includes subfields which develop or study materials having unique
properties arising from their nanoscale dimensions[

Interface and colloid science has given rise to many materials which may be
useful in nanotechnology, such as carbon nanotubes and other fullerenes, and
various nanoparticles and nanorods. Nanomaterials with fast ion transport are
related also to nanoionics and nanoelectronics.

Nanoscale materials can also be used for bulk applications; most present
commercial applications of nanotechnology are of this flavor.

Progress has been made in using these materials for medical applications;
see Nanomedicine.

Nanoscale materials are sometimes used in solar cells which combats the cost of
traditional Silicon solar cells

Development of applications incorporating semiconductor nanoparticles to be

used in the next generation of products, such as display technology, lighting,
solar cells and biological imaging; see quantum dots.

5.THE NANOTECHNOLOGY APPROACHES

5.1 Bottom-up approaches
These seek to arrange smaller components into more complex assemblies.

DNA nanotechnology utilizes the specificity of WatsonCrick base pairing to

construct well-defined structures out of DNA and other nucleic acids.

Approaches

from

the

field

of

"classical"

chemical

synthesis

(inorganic and organic synthesis) also aim at designing molecules with welldefined shape (e.g. bis-peptides).

More

generally, molecular

self-assembly seeks

to

use

concepts

of

supramolecular chemistry, and molecular recognition in particular, to cause

single-molecule components to automatically arrange themselves into some
useful conformation.

Atomic force microscope tips can be used as a nanoscale "write head" to deposit
a chemical upon a surface in a desired pattern in a process called dip pen
nanolithography. This technique fits into the larger subfield of nanolithography.

5.2 Top-down approaches

These seek to create smaller devices by using larger ones to direct their assembly.

Many technologies that descended from conventional solid-state silicon

methods for fabricating microprocessors are now capable of creating features
smaller than 100 nm, falling under the definition of nanotechnology. Giant
magnetoresistance-based hard drives already on the market fit this description,
as do atomic layer deposition (ALD) techniques. Peter Grnberg and Albert
Fert received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2007 for their discovery of Giant
magnetoresistance and contributions to the field of spintronics.

Solid-state techniques can also be used to create devices known as nanoelectro

mechanical systems or NEMS, which are related to micro electro mechanical
systems or MEMS.

Focused ion beams can directly remove material, or even deposit material when
suitable pre-cursor gasses are applied at the same time. For example, this
technique is used routinely to create sub-100 nm sections of material for
analysis in Transmission electron microscopy.

Atomic force microscope tips can be used as a nanoscale "write head" to deposit
a resist, which is then followed by an etching process to remove material in a
top-down method.

6. TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES

Typical AFM setup. A micro fabricated cantilever with a sharp tip is deflected by features on a
sample surface, much like in a phonograph but on a much smaller scale. A laser beam reflects
off the backside of the cantilever into a set of photo detectors, allowing the deflection to be
measured and assembled into an image of the surface.
There are several important modern developments. The atomic force microscope (AFM) and
the Scanning Tunneling Microscope (STM) are two early versions of scanning probes that
launched nanotechnology. There are other types of scanning probe microscopy, all flowing
from the ideas of the scanning confocal microscope developed by Marvin Minsky in 1961 and
the scanning acoustic microscope (SAM) developed by Calvin Quate and coworkers in the
1970s, that made it possible to see structures at the nanoscale.
10
The tip of a scanning probe can also be used to manipulate nanostructures (a process called
positional assembly). Feature-oriented scanning methodology suggested by Rostislav Lapshin
appears to be a promising way to implement these nano manipulations in automatic
mode. However, this is still a slow process because of low scanning velocity of the microscope.
Various techniques of nanolithography such as optical lithography, X-ray lithography dip pen
nanolithography, electron beam lithography or nano imprint lithography were also developed.
Lithography is a top-down fabrication technique where a bulk material is reduced in size to
nano scale pattern.
Another group of nano technological techniques include those used for fabrication
of nanotubes and nanowires, those used in semiconductor fabrication such as deep ultraviolet
lithography, electron beam lithography, focused ion beam machining, nanoimprint lithography,
atomic layer deposition, and molecular vapor deposition, and further including molecular self-

assembly techniques such as those employing di-block copolymers. However, all of these
techniques preceded the nanotech era, and are extensions in the development of scientific
advancements rather than techniques which were devised with the sole purpose of creating
nanotechnology and which were results of nanotechnology research.
The top-down approach anticipates nano devices that must be built piece by piece in stages,
much as manufactured items are made. Scanning probe microscopy is an important technique
both for characterization and synthesis of nanomaterials. Atomic force microscopes and
scanning tunneling microscopes can be used to look at surfaces and to move atoms around. By
designing different tips for these microscopes, they can be used for carving out structures on
surfaces and to help guide self-assembling structures. By using, for example, feature-oriented
scanning approach, atoms or molecules can be moved around on a surface with scanning probe
microscopy techniques. At present, it is expensive and time-consuming for mass production but
very suitable for laboratory experimentation.
In contrast, bottom-up techniques build or grow larger structures atom by atom or molecule by
molecule. These techniques include chemical synthesis, self-assembly and positional
assembly. Dual polarization interferometry is one tool suitable for characterisation of self
assembled thin films. Another variation of the bottom-up approach is molecular beam
epitaxy or MBE. MBE allows scientists to lay down atomically precise layers of atoms and, in
the process, build up complex structures. Important for research on semiconductors, MBE is
also widely used to make samples and devices for the newly emerging field of spintronics.

7. ACCOMPLISHMENT OF NANOTECHNOLOGY
7.1 ADVANCED ENGINEERING
The basic properties of atoms and molecules are already well understood, though routine
research will be part of the development process. The existence of molecular machines in
nature shows that machines at that scale are physically possible. No new fundamental science
is needed; nanotechnology will be an engineering advance. This makes it foreseeable, unlike
future scientific discoveries.
7.2 THE ASSEMBLER
An assembler will be a device having a submicroscopic robotic arm under computer control. It
will work by applying reactive molecular tools to a work piece, building objects molecule by
molecule. Assemblers will pop atoms into place with complete precision, enabling them to
build virtually anything possible under natural law. With proper programming, materials, and
so forth, assemblers will be able to build copies of themselves, that is, to replicate.

[Fig

1. nanobots- the tiny molecule assembling machines]

7.3 SELF REPLICATION : MAKING THINGS INEXPENSIVELY

The requirement for low cost creates an interest I self- replicating manufacturing systems.
These systems are able both to make two copies of itself, and those two make two copies each
and so on. We can have trillions of nanobots in no time, each one operating independently to
carry out a trillionth of the job. This system will be reasonably inexpensive, effective and time
saving process.

Positional control combined with appropriate molecular tools should let us build a truly
staggering range of molecular structures -- but a few molecular devices built at great expense
would hardly seem to qualify as a revolution in manufacturing. How can we keep the costs
down?
If we could make a general purpose programmable manufacturing device which was able to
make copies of itself then the manufacturing costs for both the devices and anything they made
could be kept quite low -- likely no more than the costs for growing potatoes.
Drexler called such devices "assemblers."
The first serious analysis of self replicating systems was by von Neumann in the 1940s. He
carried out a detailed analysis of one such system in a theoretical cellular automata model . In
von Neumanns cellular automata model he used a universal computer for control and a
universal constructor to build more automata. The universal constructor was a robotic arm
that, under computer control, could move in two dimensions and alter the state of the cell at the
tip of its arm. By sweeping systematically back and forth, the arm could build any structure
that the computer instructed it to. In his three-dimensional "kinematic" model, von Neumann
retained the idea of a positional device (now able to position in three dimensions rather than
two) and a computer to control it.

A NASA study in 1980 extended the general conclusions of von Neumann and concluded that a
fully automated lunar mining and manufacturing operation, able to extend itself using its own
mining and manufacturing capabilities, would be feasible and could be built given a multibillion dollar budget and a few decades of work.

The architecture for Drexler's assembler is a specialization of the more general architecture
proposed by von Neumann. As before, there is a computer and constructor, but now the
computer has shrunk to a "molecular computer" while the constructor combines two features: a
robotic positional device (such as the robotic arm discussed earlier) and a well defined set of
chemical operations that take place at the tip of the positional device.
The complexity of a self replicating system need not be excessive. In this co ntext the
complexity is just the size, in bytes, of a "recipe" that fully describes how to make the system.
The complexity of an assembler needn't be beyond the complexity that can be dealt with by
today's engineering capabilities. As shown in the following table, there are several self
replicating systems whose complexity is well within current capabilities. Drexler estimated the
complexity of his original proposal for an assembler at about 10,000,000 bytes. Further work
should reduce this.

Complexity of self replicating systems (bytes)

Von Neumann's universal constructor about 60,000
Internet worm
60,000
Mycoplasma genitalia
145,018
E. Coli
Drexler's assembler
Human
NASA Lunar Manufacturing
Facility

1,000,000
12,000,000
800,000,000
over 10,000,000,000

What is the "complexity" of a living system? We'll take this to mean the number of bytes in the
DNA "blueprints." As each base pair in DNA can be one of four possibilities, it encodes two
bits. One byte (8 bits) can be encoded in four base pairs. This means we count the number of
base pairs in the DNA and divide by four to get the number of bytes in the "blueprints." For
Mycoplasma genitalia, which has 580,070 base pairs, this results in 145,017.5 bytes. For
humans, with roughly 3.2 billion base pairs, this results in 800 million bytes. (We're using the
haploid base pair count: each cell in your body has DNA from your mother and DNA from
your father -- but much of this is similar. We're counting only the DNA from one parent). The
complexity and sophistication of most living systems goes well beyond anything we might
need just to achieve low cost manufacturing.
The complexity of the internet worm is just an estimate of the number of bytes in its C
program. Because the environment in which it operates is highly structured and provides
relatively easy access to complex and sophisticated software, it could be argued that its
complexity might be much less than the complexity of a system that operated in a "simple"
environment. We'll leave it in our table anyway, as it's an interesting data point. This argument
is less applicable to von Neumann's universal constructor which operates in a simple
environment: just a large two-dimensional checkerboard with a finite number of states at each
square. Its complexity is an estimate of the number of bytes needed to describe the constructor.
The complexity of the NASA Lunar Manufacturing Facility was estimated in the NASA study.

8. FUTURE POSSIBILITIES OF NANOTECHNOLOGY

8.1 IMPROVED TRANSPORTATION
Today, most airplanes are made from metal despite the fact that diamond has a strength-toweight ratio over 50 times that of aerospace aluminum. Diamond is expensive, we can't make it
in the shapes we want, and it shatters. Nanotechnology will let us inexpensively make shatter
proof diamond (with a structure that might resemble diamond fibers) in exactly the shapes we
want This would let us make a Boeing 747 whose unloaded weight was 50 times lighter but
just as strong.
Today, travel in space is very expensive and reserved for an elite few. Nanotechnology will
dramatically reduce the costs and increase the capabilities of space ships and space flight. The
strength-to-weight ratio and the cost of components are absolutely critical to the performance
and economy of space ships: with nanotechnology, both of these parameters will be improved.
Beyond inexpensively providing remarkably light and strong materials for space ships,
nanotechnology will also provide extremely powerful computers with which to guide both
those ships and a wide range of other activities in space.
8.1.1 INTELLIGENT CARS
In a few decades your car will know the freeway conditions on your favorite route to home.
The GPS installed would take the easiest route possible and the computer system would
calculate the instantaneous speed and history of every vehicle between you and your
destination. The car could be set on auto mode allowing you to read your favorite novel. On the
auto mode, the car would be smart enough to avoid any collisions with other vehicles and take
safety measures if you happen to sleep off.
You wont have to hunt for the parking space. The car would find and reserve a parking space
for you. Many prototypes of such cars have been tested in Europe, the US and Japan.
8.2 NANOCOMPOSITES
A plastic nanocomposite is being used for "step assists" in the GM Safari and Astro Vans. It is
scratch-resistant, lightweight, and rustproof, and generates improvements in strength and
reductions in weight, which lead to fuel savings and increased longevity. And in 2001, Toyota
started using nanocomposites in a bumper that makes it 60% lighter and twice as resistant to
denting and scratching impact: Will likely be used on other GM and Toyota models soon, and
in other areas of their vehicles, as well as the other auto manufactures, lowering weight,
increasing mileage, and creating longer-lasting autos. Likely to impact repair shops (fewer
repairs needed) and auto insurance companies (fewer claims). Will also likely soon be seen
everywhere weight, weatherproofing, durability, and strength are important factors. Expect
NASA, the ESA, and other space- faring organizations to take a serious look, soon, which will
eventually result in lower lift costs, which will result in more material being lifted into space.

[Fig 4. a nanocomposite structure as viewed under a microscope]

8.3 ATOM COMPUTERS

Today, computer chips are made using lithography -- literally, "stone

writing." If the computer hardware revolution is to continue at its current
pace, in a decade or so we'll have to move beyond lithography to some
new post lithographic manufacturing technology. Ultimately, each logic
element will be made from just a few atoms.

Designs for computer gates with less than 1,000 atoms have already
been proposed -- but each atom in such a small device has to be in
exactly the right place. To economically build and interconnect trillions
upon trillions of such small and precise devices in a complex threedimensional pattern we'll need a manufacturing technology well beyond
today's lithography: we'll need nanotechnology.

With it, we should be able to build mass storage devices that can store
more than a hundred billion billion bytes in a volume the size of a sugar
cube; RAM that can store a mere billion billion bytes in such a volume;
and massively

parallel computers of the same size that can deliver a billion billion instructions per second.
8.4 HIGH MEMORY STORAGE CAPACITY
The first application that comes to mind is a very high -density memory. The minimum spotsize demonstrated in the new work is 10 angstroms, though a somewhat larger size might be
required in practice. If we assume that a single bit can be read or written into a 10 angstrom
14

square, then a one square centimeter surface can hold 10 bits. That's one hundred terabytes.
The 100 nanosecond pulse time sets a 10-megabit/second maximum write rate, though this
might be degraded for other reasons. At this rate, it would take several months to a year of
constant writing to fill a one square centimeter memory.
Access times will probably be limited by the time needed to move the needle--which might be
a significant fraction of a second to travel one centimeter--giving access times similar to those
on current disk drives. The manufacturing cost of such a system is unclear, but the basic
components do not seem unduly expensive. It seems safe to predict that someone in the nottoo-distant future is going to build a low-cost very large capacity secondary storage device
(disk replacement) based on this tech.
The larger implication of this work, however, is that it may put us on the threshold of
controlled molecular manipulation. The great virtue of this technique is that we need not

imagine it at all--it is real and is being pursued in Bell Laboratory and at IBM Almaden.

8.5 MOLECULAR ELECTRONICS

Molecular Electronics is a revolutionary idea to attend maximum
miniaturization, instead of using transistors on and off states for
implementing ones and zeros respectively, the characteristics of
electrons may be used for the same. Positive and negative spins can be
used to implement one and zero respectively.
The idea is new and it will take time for its implementation. But this will
be the ultimate destination in the quest for miniaturization.
Molecular Electronics is based on a new organic material that may lead to
a biological or chemical computer. A new radical information processing
systems is being thought where organic cells or the bacteria will act as
basic components.
Living Organisms are made up of organic compounds. And as such,
thinking functions can be easily realized in such a system. Due to
biological level scale the high density circuits may be made.
One example of a natural molecular device is the bacterial photo reaction
center. Analogous devices have been successfully made through the
synthesis of single and complex molecules, which release charge on
photo excitation.
MILITARY APPLICATIONS
Today, "smart" weapons are fairly big -- we have the "smart bomb" but not the "smart bullet".
In the future, even weapons as small as a single bullet co ld pack more computer power than
the largest supercomputer in existence toda y, allowing them to perform real time image
analysis of their surroundings and communicate with weapons tracking systems to acquire and
navigate to targets with greater precision and control.
We'll also be able to build weapons both inexpensively and muc h more rapidly, at the same
time taking full advantage of the remarkable materials properties of diamond. Rapid and
inexpensive manufacture of great quantities of stronger more precise weapons guided by
massively increased computational power will alter the way we fight wars.
Changes of this magnitude could destabilize existing power structures in unpredictable ways.
Military applications of nanotechnology raise a number of concerns that prudence suggests we
begin to investigate before, rather than after, we develop this new technology.

8.7 SMART FURNITURE

Doctors warned against the way many people sit for hours together, and recommend a little bit
of exercise. But what if the furniture itself changes its shape to accommodate us comfortably.

The concepts of adaptive furniture have caught the fancy of many designers
who value the aesthetic design and the overall getup and feel of furniture. Smart
furniture of the future could be fitted with microchips that help the furniture
concerned to behave and changed accordingly depending upon the posture of
the person. Nanotechnology would be the enabler of adaptive structures in
furniture.

Today we have furniture that adapts to the human body, but it does so in an
awkward and incomplete manner. A chair adapts because it is a hinge
contraption that grudgingly bends and extends in a few places to suit the
preferred position.

There are advertisements of the furniture giving a massage. But in fact it only
vibrates. So what we get in reality is a momentarily relief and in long run a
problem like lower back pain.

These limitations are due to the incompatibility in design. However with

molecular manufacturing it will be easy to make furniture from smart materials
that adapt to the changing position of the user.
8.8 SOLAR ENERGY
Nanotechnology will cut costs both of the solar cells and the equipment needed to deploy them,
making solar power economical. In this application we need not make new or technically
superior solar cells: making inexpensively what we already know how to make expensively
would move solar power into the mainstream.
8.9 MEDICAL USES
It is not modern medicine that does the healing, but the cells themselves: we are but onlookers.
If we had surgical tools that were molecular both in the ir size and precision, we could develop
a medical technology that for the first time would let us directly heal the injuries at the
molecular and cellular level that are the root causes of disease and ill health. With the precision
of drugs combined with the intelligent guidance of the surgeon's scalpel, we can expect a
quantum leap in our medical capabilities.
On the medical front, doctors claim that around the year 2020 there would be no unanticipated
illness. Chronic sensor implants would monitor almost every major circulatory system in the
human body and provide you with early warning of any minor change in the body system, such
as common cold and even go to the extent of saving life by detecting the harmful cancerous
cells/tumors and eradicating them completely.. These nanobots could chip pluck from arteries,
gang up on bacteria and virus, scour toxins from the blood stream, repair broken blood vessels
and dozens of jobs doctors havent dreamed of yet.

8.10 USE OF NATURAL RESOURCES

Rather than clear-cutting forests to make paper, we'd have assemblers synthesizing paper.
Rather than using oil for energy, we'd have molecule-sized solar cells mixed into road
pavement. With such solar nanocells, a sunny patch of pavement a few hundred square miles
could generate enough energy for the entire United States.
Famine would be obliterated, as food could be synthesized easily and cheaply with a
microwave-sized nanobox that pulls the raw materials (mostly carbon) from the air or the soil.
And by using nanobots as cleaning machines that break down pollutants, we would be able to
counteract the damage we've done to the earth since the industrial revolution.
8.11 AIR BAGS FOR MOTORCYCLISTS
We have used the air safety bags in cars that open up on the impact of collision, there by saving
by occupants of the car. But for the motorcyclists it is like reading with death, even a little
accelerated slight turn on a slimy surface could be the end of the road for them.
Motorcycle accidents cause severe damage to the head, neck, spine, torso and the internal
organs of the riders. Providing a cushion effect to these areas may reduce the level of injury.
This can be done using the air bags.

In order to increase safety of two wheeler riders Italian firms in collaboration with an Israel
company have developed a jacket in the form of air bag called D-air system. It can inflate in 30
milliseconds and can maintain pressure for 20 seconds.

8.12 POLLUTION CONTROL

And it's not just building new things. Nanites can rearrange what is already around. One quite
exciting possibility is pollution control.
For example, nanites could be designed to harvest heavy metals and toxic chemicals from
polluted sites.
They could be seeded into the upper atmosphere to repair the holes in the ozone layer And
since they can make just about anything, large unsightly factories and manufacturing plants
may well be made obsolete.

9. A ROLE FOR ENGINEERING

Physical, chemical, biological, materials and engineering sciences have arrived to nanoscale
about the same time. Engineering plays an important role because when we
refer to nanotechnology we speak about systems at nanoscale, where the treatment of
simultaneous phenomena in multibody assemblies would require integration of disciplinary
methods of investigation and an engineering system approach. The manipulation of a large
system of molecules is equally challenging to a thermodynamics engineer researcher as it is to
a single-electron physics researcher.Several reasons for an increased role of engineering are:

Nanotechnology deals with systems at nanoscale, which are hierarchically

integrated in architectures at larger scales.

Multiple phenomena act simultaneous. Nanotechnology requires the integration

of the methods of investigation from various disciplines in order to understand
macroscopic phenomena, define transport coefficients, optimize processes and
design products.

Nanotechnology implies the ability to manipulate the matter under control at the
nanoscale and integrate manufacturing along scales. Main challenges are
creation of tailored structures at the nanoscale, and combination of the bottomup and top-down approaches to generate nanostructured devices and systems.

Development of tools and processes to measure, calibrate and manufacture. The

engineering community needs to redefine the role of engineering from analysis,
design and manufacturing mainly at the macro- and micro- scales towards the
nanoscale engineering; improve education and training of engineers to better
understand phenomena and processes from the atomic, molecular and
macromolecular levels; and address problem-driven and interdisciplinary
nanotechnology R&D where engineering plays an important role.

9.1 COHERENCE WITH OTHER SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING MEGATRENDS

Six increasingly interconnected megatrends in science and engineering are perceived as
dominating the scene for the next decades:

Information and computing

Biology and bio-environmental approaches

Medical sciences and eventually enhancing human physical capabilities

Cognitive sciences concerned with exploring and enhancing intellectual abilities

Collective behavior and system approach to study nature, technology and

society

10. INDIAN SCENARIO

IndiaNano Summit is a global forum for academic, corporate, government, & private labs,

entrepreneurs, early-stage companies, investors, IP, joint ventures, service providers, start-up
ventures, & strategic alliances. The initiative will support long-term nanoscale research and
development leading to potential breakthroughs in areas such as materials and manufacturing,
nanoelectronics, medicine and healthcare, environment, energy, chemicals, biotechnology,
agriculture, information technology, and national security.
The effect of nanotechnology on the health, wealth, and lives of people could be at least as
significant as the combined influences of microelectronics, medical imaging, computer-aided
engineering, and man- made polymers developed in this century. IndiaNano Nanotechnology
Initiative establishes Grand Challenges -- potential breakthroughs that if one day realized could
provide major, broad-based economic benefits to India, as well as improve the quality of life
for its citizens dramatically. Examples of these breakthroughs include: Containing the entire
contents of the Library of the parliament in a device the size of a sugar cube; Making materials
and products from the bottom-up, that is, by building them up from atoms and molecules.
The mission vision and objectives are:
1. To provide the government and the private sector means to outline a
nanotechnology initiative for India.
2. To provide a unique and beneficial platform for initiating and exploring
relationships between entrepreneurs, start- ups and investors for nanotechnology
3. To support long-term nanoscale research and development.
4. To help foster startups /initiatives in nanotechnology
5. Help stimulate development of an interdisciplinary international community of
nanostructure researchers in India
6. To provide an opportunity to learn from the practical experience from
nanotechnology specialists.
7. Provide the worldwide science and engineering community with a broadly inclusive
and critical view of this field in India
8. Provide the worldwide science and engineering community with a broadly inclusive
and critical view of this field in India Provide the worldwide science and
engineering community with a broadly inclusive and critical view of this field in
India
9. Identify promising areas for future research and commercial development in India
10. Help stimulate development of an interdisciplinary international community of
nanostructure researchers in India

11. Encourage and identify opportunities for international collaboration with the
community of global nanotechnology initiatives.

12. Identify promising areas for future research and commercial development in India.
13. Encourage and identify opportunities for international collaboration with the
community of global nanotechnology initiatives.

11. ADVANTAGES OF NANOTECHNOLOGY

suitability for low cost, high volume production

reduced size, mass and power consumption

high functionality

improved reliability and robustness.

12. NANO PROBLEMS & LIMITATION

Of course, all great advances come with associated problems. Before we get all these
advantages from nanotechnology, we have to think about how we might solve these
Nanotechnology will not solve our problems!

How can you get millions of molecules to arrange themselves into exact
arrangements?

How do you test the billion molecule electronic circuit?

Nanoscale computing is amorphous

The price of programmability

Nanotechnology has nothing to do with nuclear technology. There is no transmuting of

nuclei as the alchemists tried to do, and as is done by nuclear technologists. Nanotechnology
only does what chemists do: rearrange molecules. Nonetheless, it is a technology where the
principle of exponentiation can be brought to bear: nuclear explosions come from an
exponential proliferation of neutrons in a critical mass of fissile material. Here, we are talking
not about an exponential growth of destroying things and releasing energy, but we are talking
about a potential exponential growth of constructing complex artifacts.

13. CONCLUSION
The work in nanotechnology is being carried out not just on the materials of the future, but also

the tools that will allow us to use these ingredients to create products. Experimental work has
already resulted in the production of scanning tunneling microscope, molecular tweezers, and
logic devices. Theoretical work in the construction of nano-computers is progressing as well.
Taking all of this into account, it is clear that the technology is feasible.
Nanotechnology is expected to have a profound impact on our economy and society in the 21st
century, from the development of better, faster, stronger, smaller, and cheaper systems.
Nanotechnology provides a far more powerful capability. We cannot make powerful
computers, defense, environment and medicine, but also in a higher standard of living for
everyone on the planet.
Nanotechnology- the science is good, the engineering is feasible, the paths of approach are
many, the consequences are revolutionary-times-revolutionary, and the schedule is: in our
lifetimes.

14. REFERENCES

www.zyvex.com

www.foresight.org

www.nanoelectronicsplanet.com

www.nanotechnology.com

"Nanoscience and nanotechnologies: opportunities and uncertainties". Royal

Society and Royal Academy of Engineering. July 2004. Retrieved 13 May 2011.
C&En: Cover Story Nanotechnology

Das S, Gates AJ, Abdu HA, Rose GS, Picconatto CA, Ellenbogen JC. (2007).
"Designs for Ultra-Tiny, Special-Purpose Nanoelectronic Circuits". IEEE Transactions on
Circuits and Systems.

Schneider, Andrew, "Amid Nanotech's Dazzling Promise, Health Risks Grow", March
24, 2010.

Paull, J. & Lyons, K. (2008). "Nanotechnology: The Next Challenge for

Organics". Journal of Organic Systems.